Meet Kristin Garrison

Kristin A. Garrison, Founder & Principal, KGA Nonprofit Consulting, LLC
Why does Kristin do this?
Kristin is a woman who genuinely believes in the goodness of others, and the passion and power of people to address societal needs through nonprofit initiatives. Throughout her life Kristin has committed herself to helping others as a dedicated nonprofit volunteer, serving a myriad of social initiatives. Her nonprofit endeavors compliment Kristin’s former work as a cardio-thoracic ICU nurse, and eventual responsibilities as a full-time mom. In all her roles, Kristin learned to continually assess situations, plan, implement strategies, and evaluate outcomes. She came to understand that while strategies are essential to goal obtainment, few strategies materialize exactly as planned. As a result, Kristin has become skilled at both assessment, and adaptation, and is always ready to pivot and re-evaluate progress to achieve the best outcomes.
As with many philanthropic women, Kristin’s nonprofit service gravitated towards the needs and interests of her three children. Through the years, causes Kristin supported include: Boys and Girl Scouts, faith-based and parent teacher organizations, Junior Women’s League, and several private secondary education schools. Kristin’s first fund development project began when she and her husband sought to secure a service dog to help their child with high functioning Autism acclimate to social situations. Kristin connected with several east coast service dog nonprofits, and with the help of her loving family and kind-hearted friends, she raised private funding to help she and her son become licensed service dog handlers. Kristin is a firm believer in Margaret Mead’s statement:
“Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world. Indeed, that’s all who ever have”.
While Kristin possesses a lifetime of general volunteer service to faith-based, and health and human service nonprofits, she is a certified grant writer and holds a Master of Science in Strategic Fundraising and Philanthropy. Kristin has ten years of combined professional experience in nonprofit development, grant writing and consulting. In 2011, Kristin’s professional nonprofit work began in earnest when she helped several colleagues to develop an autism youth nonprofit, taking it from the idea stage and incorporation through the start-up stage. With Kristin’s assistance, the young nonprofit obtained its legal compliance, developed its leadership, management, administrative, program and financial capacities, and it was awarded its tax determination [501 ©(3)] status. Kristin leveraged her networks to successfully secure lead donors for initial seed monies, and subsequent individual, major donors, and grant funding. In addition to assisting young organizations, Kristin has served as a grant writing mentor and development colleague for several mature, national nonprofit organizations. She has successfully secured corporate and foundation grant funding, assisted with strategic planning, capital campaign and fundraising communication planning.
Kristin is a proud member of The American Grant Writers Association, American Fundraising Professionals, and Board Source. She has been recognized the Nonprofit Academic Centers Council for her graduate academic achievement and was awarded a lifetime membership into Nu Lambda MU, International Honor Society for Nonprofit Management, Philanthropy, and Social Entrepreneurship, & Enterprise. A resident of Connecticut, Kristin enjoys spending time with her family, being outdoors gardening or kayaking, training in International Kyokushinkai Karate Union, and cooking with family and friends.

Nonprofit Management and Philanthropy
Bay Path University